


Not My Master

by Alexgalaxies



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Emotional Manipulation, Genocide, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22940929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexgalaxies/pseuds/Alexgalaxies
Summary: The Doctor and the Master face off again, but this time on Gallifrey. They're opposing each other, but this time is completely different than any time before.
Relationships: The Doctor & The Master (Doctor Who), The Doctor | Theta Sigma & The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 52





	Not My Master

**Author's Note:**

> Delves into the oppositions of the Doctor and the Master. Essentially an angry Doctor who holds her ground when facing off against the Master. Written Pre-Timeless Children. 
> 
> Dialogue heavy
> 
> (Character study!)

There they stood, eye to eye, on Gallifrey once again. They had faced off against each other before, but not like this. This was entirely different. They hadn’t been on Gallifrey  _ together  _ since before the Time War. Way back then, lifetimes ago, when they cared about each other.

The Doctor had always cared for the Master. Of course the Doctor did, they had been friends since their childhood. They were friends in the academy. The Doctor, in the form of Theta Sigma, had been there for his friend even through the Master’s breaking point that had been looking into the Time Vortex.

The Master had gone insane after that. A child, forced to look into something that had driven others absolutely mad. The others left, into the Wastelands of Gallifrey, never to be seen or heard from again. The Master, in the form of Koschei Oakdown, didn’t have the luxury. He went mad instead, doomed to a life of everlasting drums and constant anger.

Now here they stood. The friendship all but vanished. They are each other’s longest-standing friendship but they were also enemies. Lifetimes of fighting, standing opposed to the other, one good and one bad. It would be easy to explain it that way, but really, it was more complicated than that.

The Doctor has tried so hard to care about this man who had once been her best friend. Between all of the fighting and trying to get the Master to change. She was just so damn  _ tired  _ by now. The man before her wasn’t her friend. 

He smiled a toothy grin. “Doctor, I can show you the truth,” his voice was calm. 

It was unsettling, to say the least. The Doctor’s anger was building inside her.  _ How could he be calm? Right now.  _ “I’ve been looking for you,” It sounded accusatory.

His shoulders slacked and she smirked at her. “Oh, how sweet?” He almost wanted to laugh but he bit his cheek instead. He thought it to be pathetic of her. She, the almighty Doctor needed his, of all peoples, help.

He was being so blas é about everything “I want answers,” She put it simply. She hoped he would comply, especially considering the situation. She had nothing, no leverage, no bargaining… other than her life.

He tilted his head, with a cocked brow. “Whatever about?” He let out a chuckle. “How could I possibly enlighten you?” He shook his head. His hand raked through his hair. He was dragging the moment out.

_ Do you really not know?  _ Before letting her anger completely get to her she responded. “Gallifrey. How could you-”

He cut her off. He wasn’t interested in the discussion. “I wanted to,” He stopped. He seemed almost pleased with himself. Then his demeanor changed. “They lied to us, all of us, so I killed them all,” His eyes lit up. He looked into the distance, reminiscing. “It was glorious, the destruction was beautiful,” His grin became devilish. “I wish you had been there to see it,” He met her eyes.

With every word, she became more disgusted. She scoffed. “You killed innocent people,” She felt her eyes fill with tears and her fists clenched themselves. She remembered all of the guilt she felt for all of those years, it coursed through her. It had worked out, she had fixed it, but still had to live with it all. “I worked so hard to save them, and you murdered them,”

He smiled at her. “No, I slaughtered them,” He corrected. “Don’t you see? They were destined to die all along, you just delayed the inevitable,” She didn’t dare let her tears fall. “And because,” He paused readying himself. “You couldn’t stop me,”

She saw red. The Doctor felt herself trembling with her rage. Her hands shook, and her knees threatened to buckle. She bit her tongue.

His expression softened. “Don’t look so upset, you hated them too,” He squinted at her.

She raised her voice. How dare he try to compare them, pull her down to  _ his _ level. “No, I hated the Time Lords and what they stood for and how they hurt people,” She couldn’t let herself stoop down to his level, she wasn’t like him. She has devoted her life to being a Doctor, of hope, she helped people throughout all of time and space.

His voice got serious, but the glee from what he had done was still evident. “And I made them fall, begging for mercy, that I was never capable of giving,” his voice shook. “I thought you would be glad, no more pointless wars and suffering,” He was toying with her.

Her voice got quiet. “All I ever wanted was peace,” It was like he was trying to twist her morals to suit his sadistic needs.

“Well now you’ve got it, the whole Universe will be nothing but peace, when I’m through with it,” She didn’t dignify his statement with a response. “Don’t look so upset, we’re here on Gallifrey, again,” He gestured all around them. The seal of Rassilon on the walls and circular Gallifreyan written in different places. “It’s been so long,”

Her resentment was difficult to hide. She remained silent. Her face was all sad, and angry. 

He stepped closer. He crouched over to get her attention. “Why don’t you smile Thete?” He searched her expression which immediately changed. “Your old friend Koschei is here,”

Her eyes widened. Her breathing changed, it was bordering on hyperventilation. “Don’t,” She said through clenched teeth. That was all she could manage without absolutely screaming at him.

The room was full of new intensity. The Master had struck a nerve the Doctor never thought could even be reached.

He shrugged at her. “What? Those are our names,” He said as a matter of factly. “Our chosen names,” He emphasized.

She calmed herself down enough to say something. “You lost a right to use that name,” Her breathing was still labored.

He laughed at her emotions. “Don’t like your old name Doctor?” He mused.

“That’s not me anymore, and that wasn’t what I meant,” She could barely contain her disdain. How could he bring them up like it was nothing, like their past lifetimes hadn’t happened. Those people were gone. “You lost the right to that name, he died a long time ago. He died when he became you,” She wanted him to feel a glimpse of what she was feeling. Her jaw clenched. She swallowed. “Maybe even before that,” Her gaze shifted downward.

The Master actually appeared hurt by this. He looked as if someone had hit him in the chest and knocked the wind from his lungs. His demeanor changed. “You sound like you hate me, Doctor,” His confidence wavered.

She looked away from him. It was true. Some part of her had grown to hate him.

He scoffed. His mouth fell open. “Oh come on, we’ve been best friends since we were kids,” he almost looked afraid. “You can’t say you don’t care about me,” He let out a shaky breath. If he lost the Doctor he would have no one left, he would truly be alone.

Her anger seeped into her words, it was like a poison. “Look at everything you’ve done just to hurt me, how could you think I have any even remotely positive feelings toward you?” She glared at him, searching his face. She saw him recoil. “You’ve tried to hurt me- No you have hurt me and you’ve hurt people I care about,”

He clenched his fists. “You better watch who you’re talking to, remember who is in control here,” He tried to get some semblance of power over the situation. He hadn’t meant for it to go this way. “Why don’t you give us a smile?” He forced a smile of his own.

Her eyes widened at him before she nodded. She straightened her stance. “No,” She pursed her lips.

He frowned with his whole face. “You will do as I say, Doctor,” His voice was a mock of authority.

She lifted her chin up. Even though she was shorter, it felt like she was looking down on him and he felt it. “You’re not my Master.” She shook her head lightly.

His jaw clenched. He was fuming with rage.

She waved her arms. “You’re not in control, you never had any control,  _ that  _ was taken from you a very long time ago,” She glanced at him up and down.

He tilted his head away from her. He was trying to regain some sort of composure. “I’d watch my mouth if I were you,” Again attempting to intimidate her. Act as if he weren’t upset.

She didn’t allow herself to become dissuaded. They had made it this far. “I have tried with you, to get you to change, to be  _ better _ ,” She felt like she could say whatever she wanted, it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t do anything. “But you can’t, it’s not possible, you can never be good,” She is the Doctor and he is the Master and they would never be on the same team. “You said it yourself,”

His nose twitched and his eyes darkened. All he had ever wanted was to be on the same side as the Doctor, but it was true. He could never be good. And now he knew the Doctor couldn’t be drug down on par with him, she would never go down to being on his level. “Stop it!” He shouted, finally letting his faux confidence slip away. 

She searched his face, looking between his eyes. “You want me dead anyway, so what does it matter?” Her voice was flat. It wasn’t worth it to care about him anymore.


End file.
